BUTTE — A beloved business in Butte that’s made homemade candies here in the Mining City since 1954 was heavily damaged when a vehicle crashed into the front of the historic business leaving the owners and many in the community devastated.
“That was substantial, that wasn’t taking out a little corner of the building, that was removing a whole room, that severely damaging my inventory, my supplies, so, yeah, it’s crushing, it’s overwhelming, it’s hard to believe,” said co-owner Mary Gallardo.
Gallardo said a pickup truck heading north on Harrison Avenue smashed into their storefront at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. The incident took out a room that customers and employees occupy.
Gallardo said she was just thankful no one was in the room at the time of the crash.
“Especially at Christmas, I usually have three people working in there, so, again, I’m very glad nobody was in there and, yes, we lost materials, and we lost inventory and we lost candy, but those things can be repaired,” she said.
The candy store opened in that location 69 years ago by Bruce Shepperd. Ron Gallardo began working there was he was 16 years old and is now the co-owner.
“It’s a tradition of Butte, it’s one of the things you do when you come to Butte, get Shepperd’s Candy. They put their heart and soul into it, there’s no two more giving people than Mary and Ron,” said Mary Gallardo’s aunt Carol Davison.
It’s a challenging time to have an accident like this because this is when the Christmas rush begins. But the Gallardos say this incident won’t keep them down long.
“We’ll get the building shored up, we will deal with insurance adjustors, and figure out about repair it. We will not be taking a vacation, we will be getting back up,” said Mary Gallardo.
Butte police have not released any details on the incident as of Saturday afternoon.
